2 of 3 men charged with attempted Reading murder still at large

Two of the three men charged earlier this month with attempted murder and conspiracy in the 2011 ambush shooting of a man in his car in northeast Reading remain at large, authorities said Friday.

Police said they are seeking information on the whereabouts of Luis Jimenez Jr., 31, of the 1200 block of Pike Street and Jonathan Gonzalez, 27, of the 600 block of Bingaman Street.

Criminal Investigator Eric B. Driesbach on Nov. 8 obtained arrest warrants for them and a third man, Tai-Mare L. Mercado, 24, in the June 22, 2011, shooting at 11th and Spring streets. Investigators said eyewitness accounts and DNA evidence recovered from sweatshirts that the suspects left behind while running from the scene linked the men to the shooting.

Police arrested Mercado on Nov. 12 in his residence of the 500 block of Lancaster Avenue.

He is being held in Berks County Prison in lieu of $500,000 awaiting further court action.

All three were charged with attempted first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit homicide and related counts.

Investigators said the victim, a 31-year-old man who was not further identified, was shot multiple times in the upper body and head while sitting in a car about 3 p.m.

Several neighborhood residents were on their porches because of the heat and witnessed the ambush. They fled inside when the shots rang out.

The victim stumbled to a friend's nearby house and was on the porch, where he was picked up by an ambulance crew that was in the area on another call, police said.

He underwent lifesaving surgery in Reading Hospital. Investigators said the victim has been released from the hospital but has not fully recovered from health problems related to his wounds.

Detectives provided this account:

Witnesses said three men who were standing at 11th and Spring streets came around the corner with guns in their hands and fired 20 to 30 shots into the car. Two of the men were standing on the street while shooting and the other gunman stood on the sidewalk.

The men all were wearing hooded sweatshirts with the hoods concealing their faces and still had the pistols when they ran into a north-south alley in the 1000 block of Spring.

Other witnesses saw the men turn into an east-west alley that led to the 900 block of Mulberry Street, where they took off their sweatshirts and left the area.

Police gathered the sweatshirts as evidence and Driesbach submitted them to a state police forensic laboratory for DNA analysis.

The DNA profiles obtained from two of the sweatshirts matched the profiles of Jimenez and Gonzalez in a state police database of offenders.